ALICE IN WONDERLAND

Ok, on with our weekly dose of escapism! And surely when it comes to the fantastical and magical there is no master who could truly compete with Mr. Tim Burton… And anyone who is a fan (and anyone who has a liking for fantastic films, is I find) had their eyes out on stalks when news that he was filming Alice in Wonderland surfaced… I (and indeed a goodly portion of my office) was counting the days to release, although by some twist of fate, I missed the 3-D or IMAX version and had to watch it on DVD. I am not a massive technophile (as you may have noticed) but I really would have liked to have given this a spin in 3-D. Oh well… So, I purchased the DVD, waited for an opportune moment gathered the family round the TV set when said moment arrived and then “went for it”. And yes, it was naturally phenomenal even in 2-D.

So what’s the plot? Surely, I hear you cry; surely we all know the story of Alice! Cut to the chase – get to the gossip! Well actually no, it’s not exactly the Alice story you’re thinking of. (This is Tim Burton boys and girls, have some respect, WOULD he do a dry old re-make?!) It’s Alice a good many years later. Alice is 19(and is acted by Mia Wasikowska - of whom I am pretty sure we'll be hearing more) and on the verge of getting married to Hamish, her father’s old business partners (old because her father has passed on and the partner has now taken over the business leaving Alice and her family in a very “difficult” position.). She has strange dreams about falling and rabbits in waistcoats but on the whole, dismisses them as dreams. She is rather unlike young ladies her own age – but that people think is largely the fault of her rather eccentric upbringing. She has, on the whole, a normal life until she is tracked down by her old acquaintance the White Rabbit and is swept back to Wonderland – for a mission awaits her there. The Red Queen (Helena Bonham-Carter – who is fast becoming an obligatory fixture in Mr. Burton’s works. But they do love each other and she is the mother of his children so I can sort of understand I guess… Besides she does make a rather scary Red Queen), anyway the Red Queen rules Wonderland with an iron fist and the “rebels” such as the Mad Hatter (Johnny Depp – another obligatory fixture in Mr. Burton’s works. Not that anybody’s complaining, I mean, Champagne and strawberries, coffee and cigarettes, Depp and Burton – some things were meant to be together… Who, me biased?!!), the March Hare, the Door mouse and the Cheshire Cat (who is voiced over – or voice overed - by Stephen Fry and is my favourite animated character in the film) need Alice’s help to defeat the Jabberwocky (‘Twas brillig and the slithy toes jired and gimbled in the wabe… Oh come on now, I know you haven’t forgotten really!) and help get the good White Queen (Ann Hathaway) back on the throne… But can Alice adapt to Wonderland again and save the day?

Now, on reading this, you can actually be forgiven for crying “Blasphemy!”. In all honesty it can’t be more different from the original Alice story – the children’s classic beloved by anyone worth knowing (my own humble opinion). In fact, it actually sounds like a rather bad sequel, or something hurriedly adapted off another classic Hook. Try and look beyond it though. Think of this particular version of Alice in wonderland as the combining of two great imaginations – Lewis Carroll and Tim Burton. Mr. Burton takes the characters invented so very many years ago by Lewis Carroll, and uses extraordinary actors and modern technology to take them one step further, to make them bigger and better and more colorful… I mean, you may say that technology has its limits while the imagination does not; however, when Tim Burton’s imagination is the hand using the technology, let me tell you the limits are pretty damn blurry. In this context, even the fact that the film blends the characters from two separate books (Alice in Wonderland and Alice through the Looking Glass) doesn’t really bother one. It’s a magical, wonderful, colorful world full to the brim with delightful details. Speaking of details – not that these really count as details but they are not things you notice at once either – the cast doing the voiceovers for the animated characters are BRILLIANT. I’m on IMDB as I write this, checking the list and dear God, Michael Sheen, Alan Rickman (Snape from the Harry Potter movies), Barbara Windsor (Peggy from Eastenders), Paul Whitehouse (a comedian I’m particularly fond of but probably will mean very little to anyone outside the U.K) and Timothy Spall (whose name you won’t recognize but face you immediately will, especially if you watch British T.V).
In short, you will simply get carried away by it. I mean, I watched the film with my 87 year-old grandmother for God’s sake, and even SHE adored it!